Category: Billing

All lawyers must practice in two areas, their substantive area and ethics.

I remember the chit chat before the first day my ethics course in law school. The consensus was that it was an unnecessary class but would be a welcome break from the substantive law classes. I kept my opinions to myself as I had already found the ABA Model Rules on the Internet and devoured them. I liked Ethics and found the hypos a breath of fresh air, real life dilemmas sure to arise. Looking back almost twenty years later, I think it was the most helpful class as no matter what practice area lawyers get or transition into, ethics is always a plus 1 that stays consistent.

In Oregon, bar complaints are directed to the Client Assistance Office for evaluation of whether there has been a breach of ethical duties that need to be referred to the bar’s disciplinary counsel. Triage. They deal with a lot of complaints from clients and third parties. As long as the CAO has issued their reports, the main complaint areas revolve around communication, neglect, and fees. How easy to fix these problems!

ORPC 1.4 Communication. (a) A lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information.

Reasonably Informed. Some lawyers bristle at this. Clients want to know what’s going on with their case. It is a pretty easy standard to meet, though beware the subjectiveness of what is reasonable. In the lawyer’s world there are many client matters to be concerned with, some with more pressing urgency than others. In the client’s world, there is only one case: the client’s. Communicate ahead of time how you will communicate, how often you communicate, and when you will communicate. Provide a roadmap of the client matter so that the client understands the real life process of a lawsuit. On t.v. They are in court before the second commercial and the case is settled before the closing credits run. What a shock to find out how long it really takes.

Be clear with the message communicated, I will call you back later, meaning what?? Doubt this is a big deal? Those of you who are parents should think back to your call to the pediatrician when your baby was sick. I was told the doctor would call back and I was frozen for hours next to the phone. Fear clutched at me and I wouldn’t have wanted to eat even if I had walked away from my post into the kitchen. “Teething, just teething could bring on a fever and wailing?” Teething and colic were frightening events to a new parent. The tone of voice delivering the telephone diagnosis just made me feel more distressed and angry to have waited so long for a return call. The doctor was busy with urgent matters and mine concerns were insignificant. Your client feels the same often. If I’d only known that the doctor returned calls from 11:30 to noon and 4:30 to 5:00 or the next morning from 7:30 to 8:00.

Care of your client is easier when you explain timelines ahead of time even though all divorces don’t proceed in the same timeline. Do yourself and your clients a favor by setting forth what happens in a typical divorce proceeding, what can cause delays, when the client should call to report what just happened. Otherwise you may get called when the future ex spouse has taken the bathroom rug. Seriously, one family law attorney shared this very annoyance. I helped her to compose a Call Me Do’s and Don’ts list with a few funny examples thrown in to lighten things up. A divorce is traumatic and emotional and people going through a divorce aren’t going through their best times. And especially for personal injury suits, there long periods when nothing is happening. Because your client is not perched on a chair day after day seeing that nothing is going on, really, you should explain this ahead of time and use simple Status Update forms to quickly check in with your client and reassure you haven’t forgotten your client exists. Think about it: your client is in pain physically, mentally, emotionally thinking about this pain 24/7. A Status Update sent out monthly or bi-weekly is welcome reassurance that you haven’t forgotten. It’s even better than calling your client’s home at noon on a work day to leave a voicemail that all is well, you’re just waiting to receive medical records requested last week from the doctor. Scan that Status Update or bcc yourself or your legal assistant to preserve a record of your client communication.

Reasonable requests for information are handled the same way. If your client is too demanding, you have failed to properly set client expectations. I told my elder law clients in my written fee agreement that I would provide them copies of everything, which comprised their client file. I gave them a sturdy client file with a copy of their signed fee agreement and with papers write down all their questions so they didn’t forget something they wanted to ask me. I told them to bring this file to every client meeting and to put their copies into it. Documents were hole-punched and stamped “For Your Client File, No Action Needed.” It cut down on multiple phone calls to tell me something or ask me a question they had forgotten earlier. I adapted this information management tool from teaching sixth graders how to stay on top of their assignments. See if you can adapt it for your own clients.

ORPC 1.3 Diligence. A lawyer shall not neglect a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer.

First thing to consider about client complaints about neglect: communicate don’t ignore your client or your client’s matter. Keep track of deadlines, even those imposed by your client, and use reminders, at least one reminder but this is frequently increased to three because the deadline requires adequate preparation time. Don’t wait until the last minute to do something because technology gremlins love causing printer malfunctions or crashing software programs when either are guaranteed to raise your stress level. Allow the time it takes to avoid poor performance. Notice the word entrusted. A client matter — no matter how small –has been entrusted to you by the client. It is always a big deal to your client. One of the biggest dangers of taking a case out of a desperate need for cash flow is that you may not like that client or the client matter. And what does that encourage? Putting off dealing with the client or client matter. You know that client file languishing on your credenza, office chair, or floor? Tackle it! Sooner than later. Get it done or fire the client before it is too late and you are stuck or have a bar complaint for neglect or a malpractice claim for missing a deadline that causes harm to your client. It is interesting to note that many follow up inquiries after a malpractice claim reveal that the lawyer would not have taken on the case in retrospect. Save yourself and your client needless stress: though shall not procrastinate or neglect a client matter. See the PLF practice aids for calendaring and docketing along with checklists for the substantive areas of law. you need checklists so you don’t overlook anything which is neglecting to do what you are supposed to do and when you are supposed to do it!

ORPC 1.5 Fees (a) A lawyer shall not enter into an agreement for, charge or collect an illegal or clearly excess fee or a clearly excessive amount for expenses.

Notice that a fee is evaluated for being in compliance at three distinct times.

1. Enter into an agreement is when you form your contract, verbal (foolish) or in writing, at execution of your written fee agreement (wise).

All three times must be reasonable. What is reasonable? See Rule 1.5(b). Review the Economic Surveys on the OSB website which provide details about what is customarily charged, where, and by whom. http://www.osbar.org

This is very different when you work for yourself. You have a billable rate, but you have overhead costs, and you likely do not collect the same amount of money that you bill. Let me introduce you to Attorney Andrew, admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 2005. Andrew has a billable rate of $200 an hour. He spends six hours working on the Client Carlton matter. He knows he really should have been able to do the work in four hours so he writes the Client Carlton bill down to four hours, $800. Client Carlton is billed $800 and pays $800. There are 10 additional clients billed during the same month totaling $8,400 and is paid only $6,600.

Attorney Andrew’s total gross income is $7,400 for the month. His proportionate expenses are $1,538.09. Attorney Andrew’s net income would be $5,561.91.Will he take the full amount as take home income? Or will he buy more paper and ink for his printer? Or should he save the money as a cushion against any future expenses.

What are Attorney Andrew’s numbers looking like? Attorney Andrew wrote down $200 on the Client Carlton time charges. What amount of time did he write down on the other client matters? If he billed $9,180 but only collected $7,400 then his collection rate for this month was 81%. $7,400 divided by $9,180 = 81%. COLLECTION RATE EQUALS THE AMOUNT RECEIVED DIVIDED BY THE AMOUNT BILLED.

But if his time charges entered for the entire month were 60 hours (value = $12,000) and he wrote off 14.10 hours and only billed 45.90 hours (value $9,180), then at his $200 billable rate he was only paid for 37 hours ($7,400). As a result, his realization rate is on 62%. $7,400 divided by $12,000 = 62%. REALIZATION RATE EQUALS THE AMOUNT RECEIVED DIVIDED BY THE VALUE OF TIME RECORDED.

If you haven’t run screaming from being in front of this blog post, take a look at Attorney Andrew’s net income of $5,561.91. We realize there are other monthly overhead costs besides rent, and 1/12 of the annual OSB bar membership dues and PLF assessment for malpractice insurance coverage. You can do your own precise calculations with all your numbers. If I told you that Attorney Andrew was somewhat prudent and only paid himself $5,000 gross salary a month, then his gross annual salary is $60,000. Based on 52 week in year, 40 hour work week, Attorney Andrew’s gross hourly rate of pay is $28.85. Considering how proud Attorney Andrew is to have a billable rate of $200 an hour, that gross hourly rate of pay is something else isn’t it? Well, though painful, it isn’t accurate: don’t forget federal and state taxes and other withholding amounts for social security and medicare that Attorney Andrew must pay. His net pay is not $28.85. It’s less…

For the sake of our sanity, let’s just run with this $28.85 an hour gross hourly rate of pay. Attorney Andrew wants to purchase a new leather sofa long enough to nap on, delivered to his condo from Pottery Barn, he will spend $3,499. Not bad! He better like it because it will take him 121.29 hours to earn the price of that leather sofa based on his $28.85 gross hourly rate. And we won’t talk about the dream car Attorney Andrew is dreaming of buying. It is pretty cool looking for a car. Okay, I’ll tell you what his dream car is so you can google it and share the dream: the 2016 BMW i8 with a MSRP of $140,700. If Attorney Andrew had a savings account to clean out, it would take 4,876.95 hours based on his $28.85 gross hourly rate to put that baby in his garage. I wonder what his condo cost if it has a garage. Hmm…

So the moral of this story of Attorney Andrew is multi-layered.

Don’t get overly impressed that your billable rate is $200 an hour.

Look at your collectible rate.

Look at your realization rate.

Before falling in love with new furniture and cars, calculate how many hours you will have to work to pay for them.

Before getting more clients, look at how efficiently you are serving the clients you already have.

Wait a minute. How many hours do you have to work in order to bill that many hours? A typical work week is 40 hours a week. 52 weeks in a year. 40 x 52 = 2,080 hours. What about vacation time? Holidays off? How can you have New Year’s Day, Marin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas or Winter Holiday. And what about two weeks off to go skiing or camping, or to Disneyland with the kids?

New associates churn the hours and come back late at night to get more billable hours clocked for the month. “Have I met the quota? Have I hit the bonus level?”

Wait a minute. Billables are measured in hours. The pressure to bill hours in six-minute increments leads to logging six minutes but speeding to actually spend four minutes which starts to add up. For example, 60 minutes in an hour, 480 minutes in eight hours billed but in actual time of four minutes worked for six minutes billed would be 40 minutes or 320 minutes worked to generate 480 minutes billed. I know it sounds far-fetched, because we’d usually work on a client matter for 30 minutes and Bill .5 hours. I’m talking about those quick little client tasks, calling and leaving a voice mail message, reading a court notice, spending a quick email.

Senior partners call associates in and tell them their collectible rate is abysmal and their billables again needed to be written down significantly. “Improvement is mandatory or your future at this firm is unlikely.”

Wait a minute. Collectibles are measured in dollars. The senior partner isn’t reluctant to alienate a client with a bill that looks inflated. So hours are written down to match client budgets or the senior lawyer’s awareness of how longish reasonable to spend on preparing a client letter versus a pleading. And then that $1,000 bill goes to the client who may pick up the phone to announce he isn’t paying a dime above $950. So another $50 is written off. The client pays the $950. The associate is dismayed to learn that his six hours billed turned into four hours collected. When he stops to consider he skipped lunch and spent ten hours in the office, things are looking grim. Let’s look at these numbers as ratios. The lawyer worked ten hours, billed for six hours, and collected for four hours. 10:6 billable ratio means he works 1.67 hours for every hour billed. 10:4 collectible ratio means he works 2.5 hours for every hour collected.

Some firms pay the associate a salary and pay a bonus for meeting bonus objectives. What is the bonus based on? The associate isn’t home free. The salary is based on meeting the billable rate. So if you’re not meeting that billable rate, you will likely not last long. It has been said that it takes three years for a law firm to begin making money on an associate. That may be true, but looking up the bar number of the associates at a firm that typically hires three newly admitted lawyers a year, may reveal that maybe one of the three is around for year two. It looks like more firms are quick to cut their losses on an unpromising associate.

Some small firms may try to get a little too clever with compensation programs and run afoul of wage and hour claims by trying to dock a salary in a month following low billable hour achievement. Or trying to play fast and loose with categorizing the associate an independent contractor instead of an salaried employee.

There are federal and state indicia of employment status of a contractor versus an employee. Law firm employers need to be careful and consult with an employment lawyer if any questions. Associates need to be careful and ask questions about expectations about billables and collectibles. And if they have questions, they too may want to consult an employment lawyer.

Assuming you feel you cannot “fire this client” for not paying you, I want to you if you have talked to your client about his or her client matter. Did you discuss a realistic appraisal of how long their case would be and how much it might cost based upon what your estimated fees and costs would be?

Communication about the likely expense of legal services is essential before setting forth on a client matter. But you may be saying, “it’s a little late now!” Not so. Sit down and review this client’s bills sent and not paid. How much is owing for how long? How much more fees and costs are likely to be be incurred? Does the client wish to pursue? Can you put your client onto a regular payment plan— such as $50 on the first and $50 on the fifteenth of the month. That is only $100 per month spread over the client’s two paychecks. Can you partially forgive the debt if the client can pay 50%-75% of what is owed to bring it current? Is this a client you are willing and able to help on a pro bono or partial pro bono basis? Can the client borrow money from a relative?

You may decide to do something yourself instead of ignoring your bills. Consider whether you can go forward in this representation. On the PLF website (www.osbplf.org) you’ll find an article, “How to Fire a Client.” See the practice aids and forms category on Disengagement Letters for the article and some sample disengagement letters. You will also see a sample agreement for charging a credit card which can be used for setting up a recurring charge to the client’s credit card in the category on fee agreements and engagement letters, “Fee Agreements: Authorization to Charge Credit Card.”

It is always wise to pick up the phone to check in with you client. If you feel uncomfortable, write out this telephone script and use some variation of it to get this situation resolved. At 45 days past the statement date, call your client and say, “Hello [CLIENT]. I just wanted to know if you got my monthly statement for [MONTH]? Is there some problem with the bill that is preventing you from paying it?” Then discuss your withdrawal, or offer a monthly payment plan or negotiate a settlement of whatever amount is past due. Remember the Oregon State Bar offers arbitration services for fee disputes. The important thing is not to ignore this situation.